


Entries in a Holy Knight's Journal

by lucathia



Category: Legend of Sun Knight
Genre: 1st person pov, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Masks, Pre-Canon, word count: 10000+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-02-23
Updated: 2013-06-05
Packaged: 2017-10-15 21:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/165114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucathia/pseuds/lucathia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Think you know the 38th generation of Holy Knights? Well, think again.<br/>First Entry in a Holy Knight’s Journal: "To Keep the Sun Knight Happy, Feed Him Sweets."<br/>Second Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Save the Storm Knight's Eyesight, Steal His Women."<br/>Third Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Incur the Ice Knight’s Wrath, Mangle His Masterpieces."<br/>Fourth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Stir the Blaze Knight's Concern, Kidnap the Sun Knight."<br/>Fifth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Confirm the Cloud Knight's Existence, Burn Him with Fire"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "To Keep the Sun Knight Happy, Feed Him Sweets."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Entry in a Holy Knight’s Journal: "To Keep the Sun Knight Happy, Feed Him Sweets." AKA, the tale of how Judgment ends up buying blueberry pie for Sun. Like always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set a few months after Judgment and Sun take over the positions of their teachers, which makes it around 3 years before the start of the series. This was written for 31days_exchange on livejournal for theme #10 from lovefujitez: Whoever he is, he hasn't a notion how angry he's making me.

**First Entry in a Holy Knight’s Journal: "To Keep the Sun Knight Happy, Feed Him Sweets."**

“Sun, if you eat any more, you’ll grow fat,” I murmured as I watched my friend who was not supposed to be my friend devour the blueberry pie I had just handed him. And yes, I do mean the entire pie and not just a slice. Watching him stuff the pie down his throat would have made anyone queasy, but I’d seen worse. I suppose I had developed a sort of immunity to the intensity of Sun’s craving for sweets with how long we’d known each other. It was inevitable.

As long as we weren’t in The Bathroom, which unfortunately was the place I was witness to Sun’s sweet tooth the most, I could handle seeing Sun stuff his face with sweets.

That didn’t stop my tooth from aching. I looked down at the second blueberry pie in my hand and thought, _I really shouldn’t have bought this_. A second pie wasn’t going to save me another trip to Sun’s favorite shop in the near future.

When I heard footsteps from faraway, I wiped my exasperation off my face. “The harsh God of Light does not go easy on those who succumb to gluttony,” I told Sun grimly.

 _You need to watch your figure._

Sun barely paused before he swallowed the rest of the pie and retrieved his handkerchief from his pocket. He gracefully dabbed at the corners of his mouth, for all the world looking as if he hadn’t just devoured an entire pie.

Slipping his handkerchief back in his pocket, Sun smiled widely at me. “The God of Light is always happy to see His children with a healthy appetite.”

For Sun, what he had just said wasn’t nearly as convoluted as his speech could be. He was no doubt still intoxicated by the taste of the blueberry pie from his favorite store, making his words easier to understand than normal, though I never had any trouble deciphering his words in the first place. I knew many others found his speech headache-inducing, but I always understood him immediately.

This time was no different. I knew what Sun meant behind his words. It was also the reason why Sun was currently beaming at me, and why Sun never hesitated to pounce on sweets as long as he thought he was doing it elegantly.

 _There is no “rule” that the Sun Knight eats very little or that he doesn’t eat sweets, so there!_

Even though he was smiling properly as expected of the Sun Knight, I could tell he wanted to stick his tongue out at me. I, on the other hand, wanted to sigh even as my mouth threatened to lift upwards in a smile that was not to be.

He extended his hand out. Despite my disapproval of his eating habits, I handed the second blueberry pie over before Sun could accuse me of withholding sweets from him. I watched his smile turn into a genuine one, his eyes dancing in delight.

If everyone understood the Sun Knight like I did, I’m afraid we would lose the majority of our followers. It takes someone very patient or someone very crazy to put up with him.

I wonder what that says about me.

* * *

 _I am crazy_ , I thought to myself. A week after I had given Sun his blueberry pies, I caught him trying to scale a wall. He was not a ninja nor an assassin, so he wasn’t exactly doing a spectacular job of scaling that wall. Perhaps he would have done better if the sword by his side weren’t clanging so loudly in his ascent. Swords never agreed with Sun whether or not he was using them.

I had more practice with scaling walls than Sun did, thanks to his never-ending pleas for me to buy blueberry pie for him. I eyed the wall speculatively, noting the jutting bricks I’d have chosen as my footholds. I’d climbed this very wall countless times during my training days, borrowing the young sapling nearby to help me in my climb. That sapling was now even taller than the wall, the branches too high up to be helpful.

Sun wasn’t making use of any of the footholds I had considered.

“What are you doing?” I called out to Sun sternly, having finally found him. His platoon had been in a frenzy all morning, something about how their captain was in a Very Bad Mood, and now they couldn’t find him even though Sun was supposed to oversee their training. We were only a few months into our new positions, yet Sun was already skiving off duty. The Sun Knight Platoon, if they hadn’t known Sun’s true nature, must now know exactly how deceptive Sun’s brilliant smile and his benevolent attitude are. A few months, no, a few days, was all it should have taken.

My entire morning was spent tracing Sun’s path of destruction. Storm had been bombarded with paperwork that would last him the entire week, if not the entire month. Blaze had been sent out on a mission even though he had only just returned from his previous one. I found Earth depressed over a pile of dirtied handkerchiefs that reeked of grease. Leaf had smiled happily at me when I inquired after him, but I later heard from his platoon that he had littered his practice dummy with enough arrows to render the dummy beyond recognition. The other Holy Knights had fared no better, and even the Pope hadn’t escaped from the sudden misfortune that had befallen everyone.

There was one common factor among all the misfortune - Sun. As the leader of the Holy Knights, he knew all of us well enough to know the best way to frustrate each of us. Only Ice had been exempt from Sun’s folly - Sun was smart enough to know that upsetting Ice would only cut off his own supply of homemade desserts. Even though Sun hadn’t appeared in person to offend me, the disarray he caused was enough for me to become frustrated too.

“Judgment!”

Sun, instead of cringing, sounded very happy to see me. “Help me buy blueberry pie!” he pleaded from the top of the roof.

I folded my arms and stared up at him. He and I both knew I had given him blueberry pie merely one week ago. One week was not enough time to warrant another trip to the shop.

Sun pouted and probably would have stomped his feet too if he hadn’t been on the roof. “You don’t get it! Someone - whoever he was, he doesn’t know how angry he’s made me - ate my second blueberry pie! The nerve of the guy! I was saving it too! I thought it was Earth trying to spite me, but it turned out it wasn’t him, so I went and investigated everyone...”

 _That was why he threw the entire place into chaos?_

That was my first thought. My second thought was that whoever "he" was, he must know exactly how angry Sun was with how much trouble Sun had caused for everyone.

I rubbed my temples.

I should have known.

If I didn’t know Sun so well, I might have been touched that he didn’t suspect me of eating his blueberry pie, but I knew he would never consider me as a possible suspect, not when I disliked sweets so much. Rather, I was more impressed that he had managed to refrain from eating that second pie the moment I had handed it to him.

I could also tell Sun was still at the height of his anger with how he had his hands clenched. There was no reasoning with him when he was in such a mood. I knew I shouldn’t pamper him, but Sun was Sun. He always managed to get to me, and I was afraid that if he didn’t get some sugar soon, he was going to bring the entire temple down with his rampage.

“You do know that we’re now officially the Judgment Knight and the Sun Knight, I hope?”

Despite my “fond” memories for this wall that I had scaled countless times for Sun, there was no need for either of us to pretend to be ninjas, not when we were now allowed to go anywhere we wished. Most would assume we were patrolling or on a mission.

I nodded in the direction of the front gate.

Sun blinked. He then grinned sheepishly at me. He clambered to the edge of the roof and prepared to climb down. Of course, his sword was not going to let him have such an easy time.

He tripped.

I watched as he tumbled down. He twisted in mid-air as if he were dancing, his golden hair trailing after him in his twirl. He landed softly and gracefully, as if he hadn’t just tripped over his own sword.

Only Sun could make falling look so elegant. Perhaps if he practiced climbing walls as much as he had practiced falling, he’d one day become graceful at that too.

“Let’s go, Judgment!” he exclaimed.

* * *

Although we were allowed to go anywhere we wished within the city without clearing it with anyone, it was an odd sight to see the Judgment Knight and the Sun Knight side-by-side when there was nothing going on. In fact, it was unheard of. The sun would sooner rise from the west than for such a phenomenon to occur. In public at least.

This was the reason why I had a hooded figure trailing after me.

I had to wonder if Sun knew how suspicious he looked at the moment. I walked among hushed whispers, the crowd parting before I even asked. No one dared to approach me. The attention I attracted was that of awe mixed with fear. I’d seen my teacher treated this way and had prepared myself for the same, but once I walked past them, the whispers grew even louder. I didn’t have to turn to know that Sun was now the focus of their whispers.

“Judg- Lesus, help me!” Sun called out from behind the crowd that looked like they wanted to interrogate this suspicious figure.

I ignored him and continued making my way towards Sun’s favorite shop. Even though I was more exasperated than angry, I thought that this turn of events was quite apt after all the commotion he had caused this morning over a stolen pie.

“Lesus! How dare you leave me behind!?”

I sighed internally. Sun better hope no one discovered who he was if he wanted to maintain his image.

* * *

Once we reached Sun’s favorite shop, or rather, once I reached Sun’s favorite shop - Sun was still quite far behind, I immediately saw the crowd in front of the place. It was a familiar sight, one I saw each time I came here, and I could never tell if the crowd was supposed to be a line or not. I joined what I thought was the end of the line.

“Is this the end of the line?” I asked.

The man in front of me had been chatting with his friend. Impatiently, he turned, but his impatience soon turned into shock when he realized who I was.

“J-Judgment Knight!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide.

The crowd turned all at the same time like a trained platoon to stare at me. And then, like subjects welcoming the walk of a king, they parted, revealing an unobstructed path for me. I stared at them stonily but made no comment. There was no helping it once they recognized me.

I walked past them and made my order.

“Two blueberry pies,” I said. Sun had begged me to buy five, but one look from me had made him reconsider, and I knew that one pie wouldn’t even last Sun the return trip.

“Right away, sir!” replied the shop owner cheerfully. I’d come so frequently that he no longer stuttered in my presence.

Once I left the shop, the crowd burst into noise.

“That was the Judgment Knight, right?”

“Wow, he was pretty intimidating...”

“But blueberry pie?”

As I walked away, I thought to myself...

The Judgment Knight has never been known to like sweets, but thanks to Grisia... there probably are rumors now that the Judgment Knight likes pie.

Especially blueberry pie.

Once again, I considered my sanity for putting up with Sun.

* * *

After saving Sun from the crowd that had detained him, I handed the blueberry pies over, his anger towards me for leaving him behind dissipating immediately. Together, with Sun happily munching on one of the blueberry pies and commenting that I was a pro at buying blueberry pies, we made our way back to the Holy Temple. People threw us strange glances, but no one dared to approach me even though I was walking with a suspicious person who was wearing a hooded cloak.

Once we reached the temple grounds, I prepared to part ways with Sun now that his temper had been temporarily appeased. We still didn’t know who had eaten his second pie, but he should have forgotten all about it now that I had bought him more blueberry pies, giving me more time to figure out what had happened.

Of course, I was greatly underestimating Sun’s ability to hold a grudge when it came to his sweets.

“I wonder who it was?” Sun grumbled. “I won’t ever forgive him! Because of him, I have one less blueberry pie to enjoy!”

At this moment, footsteps came from our right, saving me from responding to Sun’s ludicrousness. I was prepared to adopt my speech about the God of Light’s harshness until I realized the newcomer was Ice.

Ice, after spotting Sun, immediately handed him a small bag without saying a single word. I could smell that it held chocolate even from where I stood. The chocolate Ice made for Sun was always sickeningly sweet, prepared especially for Sun’s extreme tastes.

“Oh, you refilled it already?” exclaimed Sun, his eyes lighting up. “I thought it was going to take longer!”

Right after he spoke, Sun quickly snatched the bag from Ice, as if afraid Ice was going to change his mind. “I’m not complaining or anything though!”

This exchange wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary since Ice often prepared sweets for Sun, but even after Ice gave Sun his chocolate, Ice continued standing there without any indication that he intended to leave. I followed his expressionless gaze and discovered that his gaze was glued to the blueberry pie in Sun’s hand. And yes, there was only one pie left. The first one was already completely demolished and was now resting in Sun’s stomach.

Ice moved closer to Sun, causing Sun to blink.

“What-” started Sun, bewildered by Ice’s proximity.

Before he managed to carry on with his exclamation, Ice started sniffing the blueberry pie.

I blinked too.

I then realized exactly what had happened to Sun’s previous blueberry pie.

“Good, this one isn’t expired,” murmured Ice.

Sun, it seemed, finally realized what had happened too.

“What...” he started. “What did you do to my pie, Ice!!?” Even as he wailed, there was nothing Sun could do to retaliate against Ice, not unless he wanted to go without Ice’s specially made desserts.

Ice merely stared, his expression unchanged. He didn’t have to say anything. Sun’s pie? He must have thrown it in the trash. Expired food was a big taboo for Ice.

If I were prone to laughter, this would be my cue to laugh. Since there were only the three of us present, I thought it was okay for me to admit that yes, I was prone to laughter when I wasn't in the public's eye. I gave into that strange, niggling sensation that was taking over me, one that sometimes seemed to seize me when I was in Sun's presence.

I chuckled.

Sun glowered at me, his expression entirely unfit for the radiant Sun Knight.

If only people knew what we were truly like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I named this fic along the same lines as the naming scheme of the novels, but I did intend for this to be a oneshot! If there happens to be any more additions after this, they will most likely focus on different knights for each part.
> 
> I also considered naming this "Blueberry Pie," hehe.


	2. "To Save the Storm Knight's Eyesight, Steal His Women."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Save the Storm Knight's Eyesight, Steal His Women." Or, how Earth and Storm should have swapped places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written for 31days_exchange on livejournal for theme #23 from lovefujitez: The idiot thinks he’s wooing you. Features Earth and Storm in the spotlight this time around.

**Second Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Save the Storm Knight's Eyesight, Steal His Women.”**

I am the Church of the God of Light's Earth Knight, the most damn _honest_ knight you'll ever see. I'm _terrible_ with those of the fairer sex, and I'm also the overbearing Sun Knight's _best_ friend. If you need defending, there isn't a better person to go to than me.

That last part's the truth, by the way, and I really am the 38th generation Earth Knight.

Everything else though is pretty whacked, otherwise I would not be squatting here, washing out ten, dirtied handkerchiefs with my hands deep in soapy water. I lifted the handkerchief I was currently washing and made a face when the water that dribbled down my forearms was still black and oily.

 _I give up._

Viciously, I wrung the handkerchief dry, imagining I was wringing Sun's neck instead of the piece of cloth in my hands. The sorry state of my handkerchiefs _had_ to be that idiot's fault. Only he knew where I hid my extra handkerchiefs, and only he was detestable enough to use these handkerchiefs meant for the dainty hands of maidens for moping grease that had probably been conjured up by him! And then he had the nerve to smile widely at me while he blabbed on and on about the benevolent God of Light! I seriously thought my ear was going to fall off with the way he had carried on.

I'd gone through a great deal to procure ten of these handkerchiefs that the priestesses use, yet now they're wrinkled and still greasy despite my best efforts to wash them. _Useless_. There was no way I could pass these off as handkerchiefs dropped by the priestesses. I couldn't even be bothered to rinse the soap out.

I gave this current handkerchief one last violent wring before I tossed it backwards as a lost cause.

 _Splat_.

That didn't sound right. If the handkerchief had hit the wall, the sound would have been hollower, but this sounded more like the sound of a wet rag hitting skin. I tilted my head as I wiped my hands dry, wondering if I had heard incorrectly.

 _Better check_.

When I turned, I realized that there wasn't any problem with my ears. I really had heard the sound of a wet rag hitting skin because there stood Storm behind me... with greasy water trailing down his face. He even had one eye shut to prevent the water from leaking into his eye.

Oops.

He didn't look happy at all. Who would after receiving a wet smack in the face? But wow, I didn't think I had such good aim. It had been a careless toss after all. Maybe I could even give Leaf some competition for being the best long distant attacker out of all of us. Girls liked deadly men, which was unfortunate for me when I was known more for my defensive abilities than my offensive power.

Even as I considered challenging Leaf, a closer glance showed that Storm was the one who had given me a clear shot of his face. He had both of his arms extended outwards like a scarecrow, probably to keep his two towering stacks of paperwork from getting wet. It looked like he had succeeded with that, but his face and his clothes suffered for it.

Seriously, I don't envy the guy even though his position should have been perfect for me. The Storm Knight is expected to wink at every single female - I _like_ that, though the ugly ones would be a pain to wink at, but that's a small price to pay for the freedom to openly flirt with all the fair maidens that I currently have to woo in secret. I sometimes wondered if Storm and I had gotten our positions backwards - personality-wise, he would have been a much better Earth Knight than me since he actually does blush in the presence of females and he's quite the hard-worker while I would have loved flirting with women in his place - but when it comes down to it, he's downright terrible with defensive abilities, so becoming the Earth Knight had never been an option for him.

I'm not bragging or anything, but no one can throw up a better defensive shield than me, though that's not what I was trying to talk about here, was I? Oh right, I was talking about why I don't envy Storm. He can flirt all he wants to - even though he hates having to flirt and his attempts are laughable - but his position comes with _paperwork_. I would never treasure paperwork over keeping my face and my clothes away from harm. It wasn't worth it, and who cared if paperwork got a little wet?

So yeah. I'm glad I'm not the Storm Knight, who's always expected to skip meetings but secretly has to make up for all the work he skipped, as well as take on all the work we shove at him when he's not present to complain about it.

“W-What b-brings you h-here, Storm?” I asked, making sure to stutter since there was no better time than now to act innocent. I blinked at him and scratched my head. With my foot, I kicked the basin over to the corner. Black, soapy water sloshed onto the floor, but I had my eyes glued to Storm's as I gave him my best wide-eyed, "who, me?" stare, the one that never worked on my fellow Holy Knights, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Without a single word, Storm shoved one stack of paperwork at me, turned sharply, and left. He hadn't even stopped to wipe his face, not that I had any clean handkerchiefs for him to do that with, and even if I had, I never offered them to guys.

I had never gotten Storm pissed at me before in all the years that I'd known him - that was more Sun's expertise because you had to be super annoying to get someone like Storm to lose his temper - but this was probably close enough. I'd never seen him walk out just like that.

Oh well. He hadn't looked that livid. I was probably safe.

I then looked down at the huge stack of paperwork Storm had given me.

 _Or maybe not_ , I thought. This didn't look like it all belonged to me, but that wasn't going to hinder me. After all, this was exactly what my vice captain was good for.

* * *

When I ran into Storm again the next day, I had pretty much already forgotten about our encounter - there were other, more pressing matters occupying my mind, such as finding another way to start a conversation with the cute priestess in front of me now that all my handkerchiefs were no longer fit to grace the hands of maidens. Dropping them on the floor and asking the priestesses if they had dropped their handkerchiefs had been one of my favorite attention getters, but now, that was no longer feasible all because of that irritating Sun. Next time I see him, I'm so going to make him lose face.

I was in the middle of stuttering about a delicious brew of tea I had acquired when a chorus of giggles drifted over to my ears. Even the blushing priestess in front of me stopped blushing to look at what was going on.

A huge, giggling clump - I'm not sure what else to call it - made its way to us. Only once they were in front of us could I tell that this massive clump was a mass of bodies - all female - and that spot of blue peeking out from within that mass of bodies could only belong to Storm. My blushing priestess had realized this too and had already melded with the gigglers. I could no longer tell her apart from the rest.

I stared.

By the God of Light - why were they all swarming around Storm like this, and why wasn't I in the center of that heavenly enclosure? I know I had just called them a huge, giggling clump, but now I knew better.

This was a huge, giggling _harem_.

Even though I thought Storm was a pretty okay guy as things went - I liked him a lot better than I liked my "best" friend Sun - there was no way I could stand here and watch this many girls fawn over him without feeling put out.

Resolved, I pushed my way through the giggling harem, accidentally gripping a slim waist here and there, causing more than one gasp that was easily charmed away by my bashful smile, until I finally reached the center.

And stared even more.

Storm was wearing a black, triangular eye-patch over one of his eyes.

 _No wonder._ Even I thought he looked pretty damn cool, both mysterious and dangerous. Girls liked bad boys, which unfortunately for me, was not part of my reputation, and which unfortunately for Storm, was exactly what he looked like at the moment.

When Storm saw me, he threw a pleading look at me, but he still didn't stop winking at all the girls around him. With the number of girls surrounding him, it didn't look like he would be able to stop winking anytime soon, but I could see that his uncovered eye was slowly turning red, and his eyelids were already looking a little puffy.

The way he was methodically winking at every single girl in the crowd was so unnatural. He started by winking at the girl on the left, and then he made his way down the row, pivoting on his foot as he did so. His eye looked like it was twitching instead of whatever he was trying to do. Did he seriously think he was wooing anyone like this? He really hadn't improved at all, but maybe that was the idea. One strained wink from him was already enough to send the girls around him screaming. If he had even the tiniest bit of my skill with women, the women would never leave him alone.

In the midst of winking for the millionth time, Storm again caught my eye. Now I could see red spidery lines trying to take over the pinkish white of his eye.

If I didn't step in soon, it was very likely that Storm would need two eye-patches by tomorrow, and then there would be no one available to take care of our paperwork.

I considered the situation. My decision wasn't hard.

As the most damn _honest_ knight ever and as someone _weak_ with the fairer sex, well, there was only one thing I could do, right?

 _Time to steal Storm's women._

I plastered on my most charming and innocent smile, one that made all the females want to coo and hug me. Even though I wasn't known as a bad boy, my "honest" nature should be enough to bring out their motherly side instead of their crazy fangirl side.

I positioned myself in front of Storm, shielding him from the females. Behind me, I could feel his rigid posture relaxing now that he was out of the spotlight.

Even though my handkerchiefs were no longer in any shape to be used, at least I still had Storm around to help me attract the females. Storm was definitely a much better attention getter than any dainty piece of cloth.

This was another reason why Storm was a pretty okay guy as things went - wherever he was, there were bound to be females, and Storm was bound to want them off his hands. There was truly no better place to be than the place between Storm and his merry band of admirers. The only thing that could top stealing Storm's women was stealing Sun's women, since it was so satisfying to see Sun fume about it.

After all, everyone knew the Sun Knight could only love the God of Light. There wasn't a thing he could do whenever I lured one of his admirers away.

* * *

Much later, after my heavenly harem retired for the night, I once again ran into Storm on my way back. He still had that triangular eye-patch over his eye. It kind of made me curious but not curious enough for me to ask about it.

I struck up a conversation, trying to draw out some gratitude from him for saving him - it sure felt good to have someone owing you - but Storm merely stared at me as if I were out of my mind. It was a little scary getting glared at with a red eye.

He gestured at the eye-patch.

"This."

He paused and mimed something hitting his face.

"Is. All. Your. Fault."

I shut up. This was a good time to act oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to continue writing these from the POV's of different knights for each, set around the same time frame. Updates will be sporadic!


	3. “To Incur the Ice Knight’s Wrath, Mangle His Masterpieces.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Incur the Ice Knight’s Wrath, Mangle His Masterpieces.” Or, how a good guy like Leaf managed to make someone angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some spoilers for Leaf's character quirks if you've only read up to volume 2 of the novels so far, but nothing plot related.

**Third Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Incur the Ice Knight’s Wrath, Mangle His Masterpieces.”**

Hi. My name is Elmairy Leaf. Not a lot of people call me “Elmairy”, not even among the Twelve Holy Knights, but I do sometimes get called... Strawberry by Sun. I’m not sure if I should be fond of his nickname for me or not, but that’s Sun for you. If he didn’t mess up your name, that meant you were either Lesus Judgment, or something was wrong with the world. Or he _was_ still messing up your name, just privately to himself. I think he does it on purpose, maybe out of fondness, but I can never tell for sure.

While Strawberry isn’t a terribly bad nickname, especially since Sun’s nicknames for Blaze are much worse, I prefer the sense of closeness that my own name offers the most, but all I ever hear is “Leaf”, “Leaf Knight,” or “Knight-Captain Leaf”. My position has become who I am. I am my position, so much that people might not have even noticed that I’m not my teacher. It has only been a few months since I’ve become the official Leaf Knight, but the people of Leaf Bud City treat me exactly like they used to treat my teacher, the previous Leaf Knight.

It’s a bit lonely to think that almost no one knows me as “Elmairy”, but I also feel proud that I _can_ be that Leaf Knight that everyone depends on. For me, the transition hadn’t been a hard one, unlike the transition for Storm and Earth, who had needed their new “character” drilled into them. In our very last lesson, my teacher’s parting words to me had been for me to _be myself_ (and for me to remember to relieve my stress from time-to-time, but that’s a story for another time). I took that to mean that I could openly worry about my friends.

Just like now.

When I saw Storm walk out of the building, I gasped. “Storm! What happened to your eye?” I exclaimed. I lowered my bow and placed the arrow in my hand back into its quiver. Practice could wait until later, especially since I was still sore from overexerting myself two days ago. Shooting a hundred arrows at the practice dummy after Sun’s visit had not been my smartest idea, but at least it had prevented me from going after Sun instead...not that I would have done that. It’s not in my nature to do that! I wasn’t imagining Sun’s face when I was shooting those arrows either! I save that for my voodoo dolls...

One of Storm’s eyes was covered with a black eye-patch. He didn’t have that when I last saw him yesterday, heading for his room with a towering stack of paperwork. My imagination was already running wild. Had Storm’s eye been gouged out by a demon beast? Was Storm now blind? What if something had slashed at Storm’s eye and caused an infection? How would Storm be able to do his paperwork if the infection were to spread?

Storm snorted. “Just an infection from dirty water. Earth’s fault.”

So it was an infection! My heart thudded in my chest. “An infection?” I was about to ask what had attacked him until it finally hit me that Storm had said it was Earth’s fault. Still, even if the infection wasn’t the result of something malicious - surely Earth hadn’t done it on purpose - it was still serious!

“Have you gotten it looked at yet?” I asked, mind going through who Storm should visit. I was afraid he hadn’t gone out of his way to do that yet with how often he kept himself locked in his room so that he could finish his paperwork and avoid females at the same time.

Storm nodded. I instantly felt relief flood through me. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

He started shaking his head but seemed to change his mind halfway. His last shake turned into one resolute nod before he shoved a stack of paperwork at me. I hurriedly fumbled with them, managing to save them from slipping away with the combined effort of my free hand and my right knee.

“Thanks, Leaf, you’re the best,” Storm said, flashing me a grateful smile that would have made many females swoon, if only he were able to smile that naturally in front of them. “These need to be distributed to Ice.”

With that said, Storm walked back into the building. I blinked, wondering why he had even come outside in the first place, especially if he had been searching for Ice who wasn’t anywhere near here.

Surely I was thinking too much?

* * *

My thoughts turned to Ice as I began my search for him. Ice was a quiet person who never spoke more than he needed to. It made conversations with him difficult and usually meant I felt like I was speaking to a wall. A wall might even make me feel less awkward, because then I wouldn’t have cold eyes staring at me, urging me to hurry up and make my point. Sometimes, I wonder if he finds my fretting annoying or if he dislikes me for some other reason. I don’t think I’m being too paranoid even though Ice’s expressions never change regardless of whether or not he feels happy or angry. The truth was that we weren’t friends, being on opposing factions like we were, but surely it didn’t have to be that way.

It just meant I had to try harder, right?

When I rounded the corner, I spotted some holy knights from the Ice Knight platoon. They were able to tell me where their captain was, though they did it quite solemnly, in slow, measured voices, as if speaking quickly and excitedly was out of the question. Maybe it was, since they were all Ice Knights. I remember witnessing Ice with his platoon once - they all stared at each other and spoke in short, clipped sentences, completely opposite of how my platoon works. The Ice Knight platoon must all understand each other very well to be able to do that.

After thanking them, I made my way towards where they had indicated - Ice’s quarters. Given the current time, he was most likely preparing dessert for everyone. No one talked about where their desserts came from, but everyone knew Ice was the source, and if they didn’t know, they only had to pass by Ice’s door to find out. The sweet scent was hard to miss, as was the perpetual smell of baked bread that Ice carried himself.

Ice was, like his platoon had mentioned, in his room. There was even someone else in there with him from the sound of things. Ice was probably deep in conversation with that person, or rather, that person was probably doing all the talking, since I think I mostly hear only one voice, and it wasn't Ice's deadpan voice. This one was much livelier, full of exclamations and jumbled words from being overly hasty.

I gently knocked on Ice's door, not wanting to disrupt the conversation too badly. When the talking didn't stop, I knocked again, this time a bit louder. The talking stopped abruptly.

There was some shuffling going on, a thud - what was going on in there? - before the door opened and brilliant blue eyes blinked at me, complete with a dazzling smile. I'd been prepared to be greeted by a frigid expression, so this set me back.

“Sun?” I asked somewhat confusedly.

“Brother Leaf, might you have a message from the God of Light for Sun?”

“Um, no,” I replied before looking down at the papers in my hand. I looked back up at Sun’s beaming face. “I have papers from... Storm? For Ice.”

“Ah, so it is Brother Ice’s presence that you are seeking,” Sun murmured. I nodded. This was Ice’s room, wasn’t it? I sniffed, smelling a rich scent of chocolate, a sure indicator that I was in the right place, though it was also true that such a scent wasn’t out-of-place in Sun’s room either...

Sun opened the door wider, revealing Ice busy at the oven. I was in the right place after all. I entered, once again amazed at how Ice had managed to convert half of his room into a kitchen. My feet were already taking me towards the seasoning section - Ice had a small but fine selection - before I remembered that I was here to give Ice papers. I stilled my footsteps, coming to a stop next to a table full of bread, cupcakes, and pies. Ice had truly outdone himself once again.

When Sun closed the door behind him, his entire demeanor changed. He was still the graceful Sun Knight that people looked up to, but the smile on his face was much more real, and dare I say... even somewhat goofy? He practically bounced over to the table next to me, his steps springy and light, before he bent down in front of the table, his golden hair dangling dangerously close to the whip cream on the cupcakes next to the pies.

“Don’t touch,” came Ice’s cold voice. I swivelled my head to look in his direction, just in time to see him take out a new batch of steaming bread. He wasn’t even looking this way, but I guess he didn’t need to look to know what Sun was doing.

“But you promised me pie! For throwing away my store-bought one,” pouted Sun. He was definitely pouting and had completely dropped the fancy speech. Ice spared a glance at Sun before staring pointedly at a tipped over mixing bowl on the floor that lay in the middle of a pool of chocolate. Maybe that was the result of the thud I had heard earlier and why the room smelled so heavily of chocolate.

 _You better clean that up_ was what Ice’s stare seemed to say. I could even hear an _or else_ tacked onto that.

I felt like I was witnessing a domestic scene between a mother and her misbehaving child. In this case, the mother was Ice and the misbehaving child was Sun, who was still making eyes at the pies on the table. It was then that Sun finally seemed to remember my presence. He tore his gaze away from the pies and looked at me with eyes that seemed almost...calculating. Inadvertently, I took a step backwards.

“Ah, but I only disturbed the bowl because I was startled by the knock on the door...” Sun claimed.

I blinked. Hadn’t I knocked softly in warning? Still... “Let me help you clean that up,” I said. I placed the stack of papers I had for Ice on an unoccupied chair and bent down to clean up Sun’s mess, something that I seem to be doing more often than I should, yet I never refuse. At least, Sun started helping once Ice shot him a few more looks. I watched in amazement as Sun gingerly rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a rag. I would never have been able to get Sun to do that.

I was once again sidetracked - this time thanks to Sun - until Ice walked over to the table with his new batch of bread.

“Ah!” I exclaimed when Ice’s feet came into view.

Ice glanced down at me. Any other person would probably have their eyebrows raised at this point with my sudden exclamation at the sight of their feet, but Ice merely stared stonily. Looking up at Ice from where I was kneeling made him seem even more intimidating than usual. This feeling was only mitigated by the fact that Ice was wearing a pink apron as well as oven mitts decorated with red hearts. The image didn’t add up.

“Um,” I started. “Storm gave me some papers to give to you.”

I pointed at the stack of papers that I had placed on one of the chairs.

Ice followed my finger before he put the tray of bread down and scooped the papers up. His eyes then began roaming across the words. I returned to wiping the floor, since I wasn’t going to get a verbal response from Ice, and he looked completely engrossed in whatever the paperwork had to say anyway.

After Sun and I cleaned the floor until it sparkled, Ice finally allowed Sun a slice of pie. With Sun busy eating in the corner and the papers handed over like Storm had requested, it was time for me to take my leave.

However, before I left, Ice stopped me.

Much like how Storm had shoved his papers at me, Ice shoved something at my chest too, but instead of paperwork, this time it was an entire tray of bread (that was thankfully only warm to the touch). I hastily extended my hands.

“Kitchen,” he said.

“Okay,” I answered, grabbing the tray. I was going to pass by the temple kitchen on my way back anyway.

Even after my answer though, Ice still stood in front of me without moving. His eyes flicked down at the tray and then up at my face. I blinked, wondering if I was supposed to do anything. _Oh! Maybe he wants me to try one._

“Ice, you shouldn’t even bother...” warned Sun from behind his pie. I wasn’t at all sure what he meant or if I had even heard correctly. Sometimes, I found Sun hard to follow even when he wasn’t using his fancy speech.

I sniffed the bread and kept an eye on Ice’s response as I did so. He looked like he was watching me carefully with his eyes trained on my every movement. However, once I breathed in the scent of green onion and corn, I completely forgot about Ice’s attention. My stomach rumbled. Balancing the tray on one hand, I rummaged in my pockets, producing two small bottles, one of pepper and the other of a special spice I had saved specifically for bringing out the best taste in bread. Like a man possessed, I sprinkled the seasoning over the bread, watching smugly when my handiwork settled over the tray of bread in a thin and beautiful layer.

With that done, I placed the two bottles back in my pockets. I was never without at least one bottle of seasoning. Who knew when I would end up needing to eat? Even if I didn’t have anything else, I at least had to have pepper.

I picked up one piece of bread and bit into it. _Yup, using that spice was definitely a good choice._ I was so lost in the rich taste that the spice brought out that I even closed my eyes to savor the taste.

When I cracked opened my eyes again, Ice had his back turned on me. I blinked. Perhaps it was because Ice never expressed himself through his facial expressions, but the way he held himself usually said a lot, and right now, he looked tense with his shoulders rigid. I edged to the right to peer over Ice’s shoulders so I could see if Sun knew what was going on. He had a better view of Ice’s face, and he seemed to be able to decipher Ice’s non-expressions better than me.

I blinked again.

Sun had his face in his hand. His shoulders were shaking so much that it looked like his pie was about to fall out of his other hand.

 _Did I do something?_ I wondered. Apprehensively, I turned my attention back to Ice.

I watched as Ice clenched his hands - now I knew something had to be up - and stalked back to the counter next to the oven, his long jacket rustling loudly in his steps. On the counter were some fruits that he had prepared. He paused in front of them, his head bowed.

I was about to move forward to ask him if something was wrong when his hand shot into the pile of fruits and snatched a single, red strawberry.

He then smashed the strawberry with a rolling pin.

Red juice spattered over the counter and speckled Ice's hand.

I stared.

I think I am very far from Ice's favorite person at the moment. I am definitely not being paranoid about this.

By the side, Sun pounded the table and hugged his stomach. He was no help at all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by a line of Sun's in volume three about how Ice looked when Leaf added seasoning on something made by Ice. Leaf is quite a fanatic with seasoning. Who would have thought?


	4. "To Stir the Blaze Knight's Concern, Kidnap the Sun Knight."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Stir the Blaze Knight's Concern, Kidnap the Sun Knight.” Or, how Storm played detective while Blaze kicked down countless doors.

**Fourth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Stir the Blaze Knight's Concern, Kidnap the Sun Knight.”**

After correcting document after document, I paused. I had realized something profound. Actually, I'd already known it, but I willingly let the blurry words in front of me trick me until I could no longer ignore what was staring at me in the face.

It was either this (doing paperwork until my eyesight blurred) or that (winking at every single female within my vicinity). I...prefer the first option. Most of the time. It meant that my eyesight would blur enough that I would not be able to tell who I was winking at.

But enough was enough, that lazy bastard.

All of these papers belonged to _Sun_!

In a fit of rage, I tossed the pile into the air, the loose papers falling around me endlessly, like the aftermath of a silent storm. Immediately, I regretted my actions because I now had to pick those same papers up from the ground. I bent down and reached for them, the papers hard to see with only one good eye. I touched the eye-patch over my other eye. Between Sun and Earth, one day, I truly was going to go blind.

As I shuffled the papers back into one pile, I couldn't stop thinking about Sun and how he always manages to trick me into doing more of his paperwork. I almost crumpled the papers in my hand at the thought, but that would have been even more idiotic than tossing the papers in the air given how much time and effort I had spent on them.

Sun is not what I expected the leader of the “good, warm” faction to be like, and I will never forget that he was the one who trapped me into doing paperwork for practically the entire Holy Temple. There was once a time when I did no paperwork, but now I don't even remember what it used to be like not having clauses and signatures plaguing my dreams, imprinted on the back of my eyelids.

That's the kind of person my leader is, a devious person who condemned me to endless paperwork and who never does his own. In fact, Judgment, even though he's the leader of the "cruel, cold-hearted" faction, is actually a much better person. You might be intimidated by his stare and his deep voice, as well as his harsh judgments, but you have nothing to fear from him if you stand on the side of the law (and are generally a good person). I've always wondered how Sun and Judgment became friends... What's best about Judgment, however, is that he always (and I repeat, always) does his own paperwork. Thoroughly. And on time too. He would be my favorite person in the Holy Temple, that is, if he were to lend me a hand too, but that would never happen. We are in opposing factions after all, and he believes in doing your own work.

Are you now wondering who my favorite person is? You are, aren't you? I bet you can't guess because he's not actually one of the Twelve Holy Knights, but he is a holy knight. Have you narrowed down your guesses? If you guessed Adair, you've guessed right. Yes, Adair. He is absolutely the best.

_Knock knock._

Just when I was thinking about him!

Like I thought, opening my door revealed Sun's vice captain Adair. I couldn't be happier to see him. If not for Adair, I'd have murdered Sun a long time ago. Sun has made many questionable decisions, but his decision to pick Adair as his vice captain was one brilliant move that even I had to give him my props for.

“There you are, Adair. Here you go.”

With a nod, Adair took what I handed to him and left. The smile on my face remained wide even after his departure.

If you're confused by the exchange that just happened, don't be. It is a frequent occurrence. Sun gave me his paperwork. I gave half of it to Adair.

Isn't Adair the very best?

* * *

The next abuse my door took wasn't polite knocks from Adair -- his manners were impeccable because of Sun's drilling -- but rather a fierce kick that broke my door down. I jumped at the sudden noise and raised my head to stare blurredly at my door that was no longer standing.

"Storm, it's an emergency!"

I would hope it was an emergency. Otherwise, my door would have died a meaningless death.

That was Blaze's voice, and he sounded frantic. Last I heard, Sun had sent him on a mission out of Leaf Bud City for some exorcism. He shouldn't have been able to return so quickly, but then Blaze has always dealt with his duties swiftly and aggressively, true to his personality.

When my eyesight finally focused on him, I saw that Blaze looked just as frantic as he had sounded. I was glad I hadn't still been trying to pick my papers up -- I would have gotten knocked over on the head by my now flattened door. I really didn't need a concussion to go along with my eye-patch.

Speaking of my eye-patch, it looked like Blaze had just noticed the new addition to my face.

“What in the name of the God of Light happened to your eye?” he asked incredulously.

“Earth's fault,” I replied. “But that's not important at the moment. What's the emergency? Also, you better fix the door before you leave.”

My door had been perfectly fine before he came and kicked it down.

“Sun's missing!” he exclaimed as he picked the door up.

“Really?” I asked skeptically. I was up-to-date on all of the gossip around the Holy Temple, the Church, and the Palace. I hadn't heard anything about Sun being missing, and Adair had looked normal when he came to split Sun's paperwork. If his captain had been in trouble, he wouldn't have looked so relaxed.

Besides...did it matter whether Sun was missing or not? The Holy Temple operated just fine even without his continual presence, and I'd have some more peace than usual. All he had to do was show up now and then to remind everyone that yes, the Church of the God of Light's walking billboard was still around, and then he could disappear off to do whatever he always did from the shadows.

"Yeah, so hurry up and help me find him!"

With those words, Blaze forcefully dragged me out of my room, giving me no time to refuse his request. He didn't even consider that I still had a mountain of paperwork to finish! At this rate, I'd need to pull another all-nighter.

I was barely able to make a grab for some documents before he slammed my door back in its place.

I surveyed the door. It was cricked.

_I definitely need a new door now._

* * *

Sometimes, I felt Blaze worried more than Leaf. Sure, Blaze was brash and quick-tempered, but if he were to claim to be the most worried about Sun, no one would be able to claim to be more worried than he was, not even Leaf. I was sure nothing had happened -- this was Sun we were talking about after all. Even though he was terrible with a sword -- he'd almost impaled me once when his sword flew out of his hands during practice -- he was terrifying in many other aspects, including how he can bring about headaches merely by talking. If he'd been kidnapped, his kidnappers could only be described as suicidal. Most likely, however, Sun was just skiving off his duties and was just unfortunate enough that Blaze had caught him during one of his disappearing acts.

I glanced towards Blaze. He was practically biting his lips with worry, his brows furrowed. As we "searched", he told me about how he had returned from his mission and couldn't find Sun to make his report. He'd even heard a rumor that Sun had been spotted with blood on his shirt the day before he'd disappeared, so what if Sun was hurt?

If I had even a tiny bit of Blaze's high opinion of Sun, I might find myself more welcoming to the stacks of paperwork Sun always liked to toss at me. I turned the thought around in my head and snorted. Who was I kidding? Sun's work attitude completely gets on my nerves, and I more often than not wanted to maim him, regardless of the fact that I know he can be a good leader when he puts his mind to it. He just doesn't do it a lot.

As we walked, I sorted the documents I had managed to grab, intent on working on them without wasting any time, but Blaze snatched them out of my hands.

"Hey!" I protested when I found my hands empty.

He glanced down at the papers, nose wrinkling before he waved the papers in the air to make his point. My uncovered eye followed the motion.

"It's not like you can sign these without an inkwell," he said.

_I know that, but I can still look them over right now to save time later..._

I moved to snatch my papers back, but Blaze tucked them away under his arms, holding my paperwork captive.

"Come on, let's go find Sun!" Blaze exclaimed as he lengthened his strides.

I sighed. It looked like I'd never get to finish my paperwork if I didn't help Blaze find Sun first. Blaze probably even thought he was doing me a favor, having gotten me out of my room, but all I could think of was all the paperwork that was waiting for me back in my room.

* * *

With my paperwork held captive, I began stringing together the information Blaze had given me, trying to piece together where Sun could have disappeared off to, and whether or not he'd been injured or kidnapped. His room had been empty when Blaze had checked. He wasn't with his platoon. He wasn't over at the Sanctuary of Light, though that didn't reveal much about whether or not he was injured, since unless he was heavily injured, he was usually able to take care of his injuries himself. Blaze had already combed through many of the places Sun could possibly be before he'd come to me. Even I had to admit that maybe we should be worried about Sun's disappearance, but then, Adair hadn't been worried, so I wasn't worried.

There were a few more locations I thought Blaze should have checked before declaring "Sun's disappearance" an emergency, so we did just that. We stopped by the kitchen where the cooks were busy preparing the day's meals. Seeing how many of the cooks were female, I winked at them and decided to stay by the entrance where it was safer, letting Blaze walk inside and ask questions. Several of the cooks looked like they wanted to drop their ladles and sidle over my way.

_Hurry up, Blaze!_

If he didn't hurry, I was going to have to wink at all the females once more, starting with the lady on the left who was staring at me with sparkling eyes that made me want to disappear from the room.

When Blaze finally came back, he came back with a bulgy sack of apples.

"Looks like Sun hasn’t been here," Blaze declared.

"The apples?" I asked, wondering if the additional sack of apples would be enough for Blaze to relinquish my paperwork from captivity.

"As I said, Sun hasn't been here."

Blaze hefted the sack over his shoulder and was somehow still holding my paperwork under his other arm. I just hoped he wasn't going to crinkle my papers.

_Right. Apples._

I made a mental note to myself about Sun neglecting his apples. It seemed that Sun wasn't anywhere public, so logically, the next place to check would be our private quarters.

* * *

_Slam!_

There went another door destroyed by Blaze's foot. I think this door took more damage than mine had. At least mine had stayed whole. This one looked a little bent in the middle even though it hadn't fallen off its hinges.

From within, Ice turned to glare at Blaze, his expression cold. I hurriedly stepped in to mitigate the damage. As I spoke, Blaze made a poor attempt at fixing Ice's door by kicking it back in place.

"Ice, have you seen Sun today?" I asked. With Sun's sweet tooth, it was very likely that he'd have come to visit Ice since he hadn't gone to nick desserts from the kitchen, though I could now see that he currently wasn't here. Ice was alone with his creations and a ton of...strawberries, though it looked like there was a bunch missing from his stash.

Ice shook his head.

I knew it couldn't have been that easy to locate Sun, but somewhere inside of me, I had hoped that it would be that easy, and that I could return to my room already.

"If you see him, tell him that Blaze and I are looking for him..."

Ice pushed a plate at me.

I looked down at the plate of chocolate-coated strawberries in confusion. Ice looked at me expectantly. The silence was a little awkward.

"Uh, I think I'll have a strawberry!" I said, grabbing a strawberry so that Ice would stop staring at me with the same gaze he used to stare at enemies that he cut down the moment they took a strike at him. I knew he used the same gaze all the time, whether he was baking or cutting an enemy down, but it was still unnerving being under his gaze.

When both Blaze and I ate a strawberry and gave our compliments, Ice handed us the entire plate.

"For Leaf," he said, hand rubbing his reddened fingers. His fingernails were pink from strawberry juice.

I didn't know what was going on, but this plate of chocolate-coated strawberries was making me _very curious_.

That decided our next stop, but not before we gave Ice some apples to thank him for the strawberries.

* * *

Leaf's door fell to the same fate as Ice's, but the sad thing was, he wasn't even in his room. After Blaze fixed Leaf's door with a kick, we headed outside and thankfully found Leaf doing drills with his platoon. We observed them for a moment. While Judgment was a captain who led by example, with both physical and mental strength, spurring his knights to reach beyond their limits to follow his lead, and Blaze was a captain who fought alongside his knights, inspiring his knights to invoke strength lent by comradeship, Leaf wasn't like either. Rather, he was a captain who protected and was protected at the same time. His knights took the frontline to keep opponents away from their captain, while their captain kept them safe in return with his deadly marksmanship.

It was a humbling and inspiring sight to watch.

"We shouldn't interrupt them," I said. But of course, Blaze was Blaze, and I was speaking to air.

"Hey, Leaf, got a moment?" Blaze yelled, already gone from my side. He was now up against the fence. If this side of the fence had a gate, he'd have kicked it down.

_Why did I even bother?_

Leaf lowered his bow and left his vice captain with some instructions before he jogged over to us.

"What's the occasion?" Leaf asked with a smile.

"Strawberries," Blaze said while grinning, though what he held was a sack of apples in one hand and a stack of paperwork in his other hand. I hadn't forgotten that Blaze was holding my paperwork prisoner, and I was sure now that he was crinkling my papers.

I watched as Leaf's smile wavered a bit, but that expression disappeared when I walked closer with the plate of chocolate-coated strawberries Ice had given me. At the sight, Leaf tilted his head.

"These are from Ice," I said. "He wanted you to have them."

The smile on Leaf's face relaxed, and his eyes lit up. "Oh," he said. "Oh!"

I raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what the story behind that was, but Blaze had a one track mind and steered us away from what would have been juicy gossip.

"Have you seen Sun today, Leaf?" asked Blaze.

Leaf sprinkled something powdered on the strawberries before he popped one of the strawberries into his mouth.

"I haven't seen him since I handed some papers to Ice."

_Which meant Leaf had last seen Sun with Ice...?_

After he said that, Leaf shuddered.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, though now I was wondering what had happened between Leaf and Ice, since I was sure Leaf wasn't shuddering from the delightfully sweet strawberries.

"No, nothing," Leaf replied with a weak smile. "I'm just glad I received nice, whole strawberries..."

I filed that comment away, watching as Leaf proceeded to share his strawberries with his platoon.

* * *

_Slam!_

Inside the room, a female voice squeaked before a streak of white tumbled out of the room. I hadn't even been quick enough to wink at her before she disappeared down the corridor.

"Sun, you!" Earth's voice died down when he realized we weren't Sun. "Oh, it's you two," Earth said with a sniff as he straightened his clothes.

I did not want to know what he'd been up to.

"Earth, has Sun been around?" Blaze asked. He was still carrying my paperwork and a sack of apples, so that meant Earth's door was still lying on the floor since Blaze had no extra hands to prop the door up.

"Nah, haven't seen him today. Yesterday though, or was it the day before yesterday? He was walking around with a red-stained shirt."

"Seriously?" Blaze exclaimed, his eyes wide. "So he was hurt? I thought that was just an exaggerated rumor!"

"So what if he is hurt? It's not like he's going to topple over so easily anyway, that resilient bastard," Earth muttered.

"Don't talk like that about Sun!" Blaze growled.

Earth rolled his eyes. "Funny thing was, he didn't even stop to take a jab at me."

I filed that info away too.

Earth glanced at us. "That enough info for you two?"

"Yeah, thanks," I said, one hand on Blaze's arm to keep him from flying at Earth, but I almost couldn't stop him when he remembered that my eye-patch was actually Earth's fault. At least I'd gotten over that already, or else I'd have let Blaze do his worst.

* * *

We tried a few more places. Blaze's face became paler and paler by the second, pale enough to give Sun and Cloud a run for their ducats, but I had a fairly good idea of what had happened.

When we stormed the bathroom in the Judge's Complex, both of us blinked at the sight of Judgment who was calmly splashing his face with water. He had two plates of untouched blueberry desserts by his side.

"Looking for Sun?" he asked us after he finished drying off his face.

"Yeah," I replied.

He handed me the blueberry desserts. "Give these to him when you find him."

With that, Judgment left the bathroom. Apparently, Sun hadn't shown up here either, but I'd suspected this would be the case. Having my suspicions confirmed only made me all the more exasperated with Sun because Blaze was even more worried than before while I was even more sure about what had happened.

* * *

"Cloud!" I yelled out. "Cloud!"

Next to me, Blaze was also yelling for Cloud since kicking his door down hadn't aided us in finding Cloud. We didn't go as far as rifling through Cloud's drawers and his closet, since we figured he'd at least poke his head out of them if he really was hiding in one of them. He hadn't poked his head out, so that meant he wasn't in his room. We then headed outside to continue calling his name in hopes that he'd show up. At least we could expect him to show up just by calling his name. The same didn't work with Sun.

Even though I knew he was going to materialize behind us, I still jumped when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around to face Cloud, his eyes hidden behind his bangs.

"Have you seen Sun?" I asked when my heart calmed enough for me to speak.

Cloud shook his head.

"Dark places are great," he said quietly. "I've never been to the best one yet."

Beside me, Blaze had dropped my paperwork and the sack of apples at Cloud's sudden materialization. As I chased my flying paperwork, only able to reach for them with one hand as my other was occupied with blueberry desserts, I filed away Cloud's random comment. He knew hiding places much better than me.

* * *

I hadn't taken a look at Sun's room yet, and the apples were getting heavy for Blaze, so we decided to stop by Sun's room. My paperwork was also safely back in my grasp, so I'd helped Blaze long enough. With a slam, Blaze kicked down Sun's door. He'd already kicked it down before, so he didn't have to do much to topple the door a second time.

When Blaze dropped the apples next to Sun's drawer, I left the blueberry desserts on top of the drawer and proceeded to take a look around his room. I knelt down beside a basin filled with pink water that Sun had probably washed his red-stained shirt in.

"What's that?" Blaze exclaimed in alarm when he saw what I was looking at. "That's...!"

The air was sickenly sweet.

I stood up, eyes roaming across the room once more before I spotted a small trap door that was cleverly hidden.

"Blaze," I commanded, finger pointing at the door. "Kick that door down."

Eagerly, with my permission even, Blaze propelled forward and smashed the door in with his foot, the small door flying open from the impact.

_I knew it._

Inside Sun's cellar, like I had predicted, was our missing Sun Knight. He had bottles and bottles of wine surrounding him, and he was in the midst of brewing more.

He blinked at us before he smiled to cover up his surprise. There were streaks of strawberry juice across his apron. "Might Sun offer his brothers some strawberry wine?" he said at last, as if he hadn't holed himself away for who knew how long, causing Blaze to go frantic with worry. He'd worried so much that he even pulled me in on a pointless search for our whimsical leader who, if we really wanted to use those terms, was the one who'd kidnapped himself.

I patted Blaze on the shoulder -- he'd sagged with relief at seeing Sun -- before I gave Sun some parting words.

"Judgment sends some blueberry desserts."

Sun perked up at this, though I could also tell that he'd just remembered that he'd forgotten he was supposed to meet him personally. Judgment wasn't going to be too happy about that, but that was their business.

"Also, Blaze kicked down a total of fifteen doors today," I said with a smile. My smile grew wider when Sun just smiled back at me in incomprehension. "He was truly _very_ concerned about you, unable to dally around and wait for people to open their doors, finding himself in need of kicking their doors down to gain precious time in his search for you. I'll let the Pope know we've found you."

_And that he should take repair fees out of your salary._

With a wave, I crawled out of Sun's dark cellar.

"Wait! Don't leave, Storm! Come back! I'll give you some strawberry wine! Or would you like apple wine?" Sun yelled at me, having realized what exactly I'd just said. "Come back!"

I yawned. I had a lot of paperwork waiting for me, and a door that still needed replacing.


	5. "To Confirm the Cloud Knight's Existence, Burn Him with Fire."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fifth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: "To Confirm the Cloud Knight's Existence, Burn Him with Fire." Or... Well, basically what the title says.

**Fifth Entry in a Holy Knight's Journal: “To Confirm the Cloud Knight's Existence, Burn Him With Fire.”**

I didn't do it on purpose. Really, I didn't. I just reacted, like well, usual. I mean, I am the brash Blaze Knight after all. I'm not known for thinking things through. Next thing I knew, I lit up the place with my spirit flames.

And then...

* * *

_Some Time Earlier_

I collapsed on my bed.

"So soft!" I exclaimed while burying my face into my pillow. I'd been on the road for days without any rest. I'd only just returned from a mission when Sun sent me on yet another mission right away. He had an awful smile on his face that day when he'd so cheerfully announced the location of a village rumored to be infested by wraiths. Just remembering that smile was enough to make me shudder again.

I shivered and burrowed underneath my blankets.

"Why am I even thinking about that again? No use thinking about it now!" I mumbled into my blankets, only half of my face peeking out. My bed was really nice and soft and smelled a whole lot better than sleeping next to my horse. He's a great horse, but I liked my bed better.

I tried closing my eyes, thinking I'd drop dead asleep right away, but when sleep still didn't take over even after I pulled my blanket over my head, I flipped over onto my back, blanket pushed down to my torso, arms splayed outwards across my bed in the imitation of a scarecrow.

I stared at my ceiling. In the dark, it looked almost unfamiliar.

Sun had given me a scare today. I thought he'd gotten himself kidnapped, like how I'd once gotten myself kidnapped when I'd stupidly gone off to butt heads with a necromancer, but Storm had sorted it out for me this time. Knew I could rely on Storm!

The mission report I'd given Sun hadn't been too pretty though, and even Sun had come out of that looking grim. I thought only Sun's teacher or Judgment could put that kind of pinched expression on Sun's face!

It would've been funny if not for the actual content of the report.

"Oh right. That report..."

I squeezed my eyes shut.

_Let there be no more spirits, wraiths, or any other spooky stuff I needed to get rid of any time soon!_

What I'd faced at the village was enough to last me several lifetimes.

I turned and shifted, sheets rustling. I turned again. It wasn't working. I tried counting. _What are you supposed to count? Lost lambs? Like that stuff that Sun always says. The God of Light loves lost lambs. Or something. Huh? The God of Light loves lost lambs? Wait, that doesn't make sense! Why would He want lambs?_

"Ugh, why can't I sleep? Why am I even thinking about lambs?!"

I swung my legs over my bed.

It was simple.

I hadn't kicked down enough doors today!

* * *

_Slam!_

The door flew open. A head poked out of the blankets and mumbled, "Hi Captain," before the head disappeared again.

I scratched my face and fixed the door back in place for my vice-captain. _Huh, he's so used to this already._

When I wandered back into the corridor, my legs still itched to kick something. It was always safe to kick my vice-captain's door, but it was also pretty boring. There was absolutely no thrill in safety and routine.

After all, kicking doors wasn't about safety and routine. It wasn't about appearing like the Blaze Knight of legends either, at least not anymore. I like kicking doors because of the thrill of what I could see behind them. Shock, anger, embarrassment -- all kinds of unmasked emotions and all kinds of unthinkable secrets. People are always the most unguarded in that moment when their door is slammed open... My vice-captain is an exception. I'd practiced on him too many times for him to be surprised anymore.

Like today during my search for Sun. Even while I was worrying, the last door I'd kicked in my search for him had been the most entertaining of them all -- Sun in his cellar, making strawberry wine. It had been bizarre seeing Sun in an apron, brewing strawberry wine without a clue. And funny too. I don't think any of our followers would believe me if I said the Sun Knight sometimes hides in his cellar to brew wine!

I laughed, my unease flying away. _I'm back home now! The village is behind me! There is nothing to worry about! It's not like any of the spirits followed me back home!_

I kicked several more doors, most of them leading to empty rooms and closets, but I still wasn't satisfied just yet.

Letting my foot fly out, I kicked open another door. This was the door to some closet in the far corner near the library. I'd never known what it was used for, so I was curious about what was behind it even though I wouldn't see any funny expressions from kicking it.

The door swung open. A cold draft blew past me.

I shivered so violently, my teeth clashed. I nearly bit my tongue.

Tentatively, I peered inside. It was kind of hard to see in the dark, but the dim torches lighting the hallway were enough to tell me that the closet was pretty empty. There was no reason I should've felt a cold draft. It wasn't like there were any windows around.

I stepped back and quickly kicked the door shut.

"I-I'm not afraid of you!" I shouted and then immediately turned tail. I got the heck out of there.

As I hurried down the corridor to head back to the safety of my own room, the flames of the torches around me flickered, shadows dancing on the walls eerily. It was damn spooky, nothing like what the place looked like in the day.

I couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was following me. _Has a spirit from the village followed me back all the way to the Holy Temple?_

I should have taken the long way home like what my platoon had suggested! Just like how you should never head directly home after visiting a cemetery in case you showed the deceased exactly how to reach your house, I shouldn't have returned so directly. I must've led something otherworldly right back home!

With this thought in mind, I pivoted and headed in the direction opposite my room. I didn't want to lead whatever was following me to my room!

Before I could get very far, something cold tapped my shoulder.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHH!" I yelled and reflexively blasted spirit flames behind me, lighting the corridor up all at once. A piercing scream that wasn't mine made my heart jump even more. A spirit! There was a spirit behind me -- It must've followed me back from the village, wanting revenge on me for purifying its friends--

"So bright! So bright..."

The voice grew faint.

I blinked. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I was also finally placing the voice. It didn't belong to a spirit like I had thought. The hunched over figure was actually...

"Cloud?"

Before me was none other than Demos Cloud, our Cloud Knight who could magic himself into thin air. _Have I actually blasted him into existence or something?!_

He was also on fire. I guess it was kind of hard for someone to disappear when they're on fire. Even his drifting skill wasn't that impressive.

"I'm so sorry, Cloud!" I hurried forward to help him put out the fire that was licking at his clothes. "What are you crouching there for?" I bellowed. "Do something about those flames!"

If I'd gotten set on fire, I'd be rolling on the ground like a chicken with its head cut off trying to put it out, spirit flames or not. I guess this meant Cloud really wasn't a spirit since he wasn't being hurt by the flames.

"It's too bright..." Cloud's voice trailed off.

_Or maybe not... Just how weak are your eyes?! Are you sure you're not some spiritual being that only appears in the dark? Don't tell me that come daytime, you'll disperse with the retreating night?_

I opened my eyes wide, trying to see if it really was as bright as Cloud was claiming. 

It was true that my spirit flames made the place a bit brighter, but the corridor was still pretty dark. After all, it was nighttime! Other than my flames, we only had those weak torches that looked like they could go out at any moment. Even after widening my eyes, I still didn't feel the corridor was all that bright. 

But even so, Cloud was still on fire. _Yikes!_

I grabbed Cloud who remained huddled and...rolled him about on the floor, trying to extinguish the flames. What I'd give to have Ice around at the moment! I bet he could blast Cloud with some icy water and not have to roll the poor guy around. I mean, he _reaaaally_ wasn't doing anything about the flames, so what choice did I have?!

After the flames went out, Cloud finally stood up and dusted himself off. His clothes were a bit more raggedy than before, the round cloud-shaped corners sharp and tattered. I didn't see why he would've thought the flames to be too bright -- his eyes were hidden behind his bangs like always! 

"Sorry about that," I mumbled and scratched my face sheepishly. Cloud didn't look angry or anything from what I could tell, so I guess I was safe. Thankfully, the one I'd set on fire was Cloud and not one of the others. Anyone else would probably want to get back at me in some way. _Even_ Leaf, if you can believe it. You know how they say it's the good guys who are the scariest when they get angry, yeah? Well, I'm pretty sure that statement is all about Leaf. Whenever I kick his door, I always think I'd get fluffiness and, oh, I don't know, bunnies and other small forest animals. For the longest time, that was exactly what I got too! But... I think he broke somewhere along the way... Because there was this one time, I could've sworn I'd burst into a witch's lair with how potent the dark energy was that swirled around the room. I mean, there wasn't _actually_ dark energy that I could physically see, but Leaf had been so focused on killing the straw thing in his hand that I really thought I'd seen dark stuff swirl around him. 

The scariest part was how he'd looked up at me and smiled like nothing was wrong. I of course smiled right back... and then slammed the door back in place. 

That had been _super_ thrilling!

Cloud, on the other hand, was unlike anyone else I knew. I didn't know what it took to anger him. Unless he'd been angry before and I just didn't know it? Come to think of it, he would probably hide instead of yell, huh? 

"What are you doing up and about?" I asked. "Why were you following me?"

Cloud picked at the edge of his singed sleeves. "I couldn't sleep."

"You too, huh? That makes two of us!" I stepped closer and pounded him on the back. On second thought, I grabbed both of his shoulders from behind, afraid that he'd disappear on me. I started walking him back toward the direction of our rooms by pushing him forward. I didn't think I could stand another disappearing act from him. I'd be scared out of my wits, wondering if I'd dreamed this whole thing up. 

"Was that... you I felt from the closet?" I decided to ask. It had to be him. I wanted it to be him. Otherwise, it'd be too freaky! "What were you doing there?" 

"...Trying to sleep," Cloud answered.

"Well, that's a terrible place to sleep! Of course you couldn't fall asleep there!" I exclaimed. 

"..." 

_That closet has to be full of cobwebs! It's not like there's a bed in there either, and it's so far away! It looked more like a place where spirits might manifest!_

_And I'd found Cloud there..._

"If you want to sleep in a closet, at least choose a comfier one than that! There's a closet near our rooms that we can install a bed in!"

"...That would...make sleeping...even harder..." Cloud mumbled. "Too close... Loud... Doors breaking..."

"What was that?"

"...Nothing..."

When we reached the corridor where the Twelve Holy Knights' rooms were located, I grabbed a hold of Cloud's sleeve and pulled him forward as I let my leg fly out to kick open the door before us. 

As the door flew open, I remembered that I should probably cover Cloud's eyes to prevent him from seeing anything scandalous, so I hurried to do that. Cloud didn't say a word, but he did tilt his head slightly. 

The person inside muttered. I walked Cloud in, actually surprised that there was no one else in the room. I was so sure there'd be some woman warming his bed! I dropped my hand from Cloud's bangs -- I guess I didn't really need to cover his eyes with how long his bangs were, but at least I must have helped ease him into the brightness. I quickly snatched his hand to prevent him from disappearing. 

"I'm gonna grab some tea, okay?" I declared in a loud voice to the inhabitant of the room -- Earth. 

Before Earth could answer, I grabbed one of the cans on his shelf and popped open the lid with one hand. I sniffed at it. It smelled like tea. I had no clue what kind of tea, but tea was tea.

"That smell about right?" I asked Cloud, waving the can before him.

"It's tea," Cloud said. 

"Good!" I nodded in satisfaction. 

At that moment, Earth finally managed to appear from underneath his blanket. He narrowed his eyes at us. "First, you make a huge enough racket to wake up the entire Holy Temple. Now, you've even invaded my room. What the heck are you doing in my room at this ungodly hour?" he growled in a way that did not at all fit the image of the Earth Knight. After getting shocked over Sun when we were younger, I got over the true personalities of everyone else pretty easily. 

"I told you! I'm grabbing some tea!" I shook the can in front of me to show him.

In the very next instant, even with his foot half tangled in his blanket, Earth seemed to leap out of his bed in a feat that was close to instant teleportation. He snatched the can out of my hand and cradled it in front of him. "This is expensive!"

"Oh." I scratched my face with my free hand. "Then, do you have any other teas?"

Earth looked at me incredulously. "Why are you even in my room looking for tea? Do you know what time it is? It's absolutely not teatime! If you drink this, you're going to be up all night!"

I blinked. "Really? I thought tea helped people sleep better?"

Earth groaned. "This can is _black_ tea. Believe me, it _will_ keep you up all night."

"Oh. That's not what I want then. Do you know anything that will help someone sleep better? I couldn't sleep."

"...Where'd you even find Cloud?" Earth asked with a jerk of his head to indicate Cloud.

"He couldn't sleep either," I replied with a shrug.

Earth sighed. "Why come to _me..._ " _Because you have the best teas!_ "Fine, this is what you want." 

He untangled himself from his blanket and stepped over to his shelf. He grabbed another can which didn't look any different from the can I'd grabbed. He popped open the lid and held the can out to me. "You want to sleep, right? You want chamomile tea then. It'll help you relax."

I took the can with one hand and the lid with the other. I took a sniff. "Smells flowery. You sure this is tea?"

Earth rolled his eyes. "Duh, it's chamomile tea."

"Sure..." 

_What the heck is chamomile?_!

As Earth expected, I had planned on brewing the tea in his room. It wasn't like I had a stray teapot lying around my room... and it wasn't like I was any good at brewing tea. I was going to plant myself on the bed to wait, but Earth shooed me away. I could only sit on the floor. Why _didn't_ Earth have any chairs?

While the tea brewed, my thoughts wandered. If Storm were to take up door-kicking, he'd be one tough opponent! Imagine Storm kicking doors! With his speed and the strength in his legs, our doors would be completely demolished. He might even be able to kick down the main gate! Truly, tough competition. Thank the God of Light Storm didn't make it a point to kick doors. Otherwise, I'd have no doors left to kick. 

_I should ask him for some pointers._

I hopped up and gave a practice kick. _Surely my kick can be stronger! Bam! And then the door will fly cleanly off its hinges!_

As I practiced, Earth started setting out the cups. 

"First cup, second cup, last cup..." He looked up. "...Where's Cloud?"

"Huh? Cloud? He's right next..." 

_Wait? When did I let go of Cloud's hand?_

A tap on the shoulder made me jump, and even though I knew it had to be Cloud, I was a second too late to stop my own reaction. I whirled around and kicked out, my kick followed by a burst of spirit flames. 

"SHOOT, I DID IT AGAIN. I'M SORRY CLOUD!" I wailed. "Quick, help me put out the fire, Earth!"

Cloud was once again bent over, hands covering his eyes like I had blinded him. He was going to be no use putting out the fire. _But Cloud... the fire is at your legs..._

"I'm not throwing my precious tea on him."

"I'll use these then!" I grabbed a bunch of square cloths, but Earth once again performed a feat of impressive speed and snatched them out of my hand.

"You don't know how long I spent washing these and gathering more! No way are you using these!"

Since Earth was useless, I grabbed the blanket that had fallen in a pile on the floor and threw it over Cloud to extinguish the fire. 

Earth didn't look impressed. "You owe me a blanket. But seriously, you 'did it again'? Have you already set Cloud on fire before this?"

I scratched my face and laughed guiltily. "Uhhh, yeah? At least, this means that Cloud's not a spirit, right?"

Earth rolled his eyes and handed the cups of tea to us. "Drink up and then scram out of here." He also took one cup for himself and gulped it down.

Cloud wiggled out of the blanket and extended one pale hand to grab his cup. 

"Now, you'll be able to sleep!" I exclaimed with a grin.

Without a word, Cloud drank the tea. Earth crawled back into bed, voice muffled as he spoke into his pillow. "I think he'd have been able to sleep if you weren't around... Damn, I might need more tea..."

"What was that?" I asked. 

"Nothing. Just scram already."

When I turned, Cloud had already taken Earth's words to heart. It was still damn spooky to find that he'd disappeared again, but I'd already confirmed his existence twice, so he had to be real!

_Did he take the blanket with him too?_

Maybe he was going to take my words to heart as well and sleep in the closet I'd mentioned.

I finally felt myself yawning. _Awesome! Time to go to sleep!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blaze, I think you mean that it's the quiet ones you need to look out for... 
> 
> Earth might not know his seasonings, but I greatly believe he must be an expert on tea!


End file.
